Rueben Geistwidt was honored at the 72nd annual Texas Soil and Water Conservation District Directors meeting held this year in Bastrop, Texas. Reuben was presented an award for 35 years of service as a Director on the Mason County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) board. Directors of the SWCD are volunteers and receive no pay for their hard work and dedication to the community.

The Mason County 4-H Livestock Judging Team competed in the National 4-H Livestock Judging Contest at the North American Livestock Exposition in Louisville, Kentucky, on November 13, 2012. Thirty-three state teams consisting of 4 members each competed for top team honors. The Mason County team consisting of Chama Martin (Senior), Gabe Jennings (Senior), Price Ruffin (Junior), and Sierra Martin (Sophomore) represented Mason County and the state of Texas well by securing the Reserve National C ...

The 2012 Mason Puncher season came to an end last Friday with a loss against a fine team from Shiner. The game was an all out war with Shiner capitalizing on just two big plays and some timely breaks to win against our boys.
We sat in the stands just not wanting or willing to accept the fact that we could lose and had high expectations that somehow, some way, we would pull out the win but it just was not in the cards for this team and these kids.

ROUND ROCK—It is no consolation to Mason players and fans, but don’t assume the 21-3 final score in any way reflected the Punchers’ state quarterfinal loss to Shiner, December 7. It mirrored the game about as much as a paint-by-number portrait reminds you of van Gogh.
The real tally at the place called The Palace was 2-0—the Comanches came up with two huge plays.

Like most of the great ideas at our house, my wife birthed it—treating kids and grandkids to a short cruise in lieu of gifts for Christmas. The affirming vote was unanimous. Beholding the wide-eyed wonderment of a half-dozen grandchildren, ages 5-11, taking on first-time experiences was priceless. Initially a “bucket list” item, it now is a gift we’d like to re-open again—at least for as long as loved ones want to go.
Like much of life, the outing is memo ...

It seems that after having summer weather for the first week of December we now are experiencing a quick change to winter with a good freeze and several “heavy coat” days. The Punchers gave us a great game last Friday to cap off a fall of good football and many exciting plays and wins.

This holiday season, why not give something simple, inexpensive and useful? The gift mixes in a jar are not as popular as they used to be, but I find they are still much appreciated!
For Brooke’s birthday party recently, my mom and I made “Cowgirl” cookie mixes as party favors for the families who attended (it was a cowgirl themed party).

We have two new, free online resources to offer. The TexShare database now includes Learning Express and Job and Career Accelerator programs. The Learning Express gives online access to over 800 tutorials and practice tests: GED, SAT, ACT, GMAT, GRE, SLAT; professional certifications, and basic skills refreshers in reading, writing, and math.

Syndrome X, or insulin resistance syndrome is a cluster of symptoms that increase risk of heart disease. These symptoms have nothing to do with high cholesterol yet have proven very significant in terms of predicting risk of heart attacks.
First among the syndrome X risk factors is high insulin levels. This does not mean diabetes, which is high blood sugar levels.

What a busy time of the year! Sure hope everyone is enjoying all the Christmas events, charitable opportunities, shopping and fellowship. The weather outside is not frightful; on the contrary, it’s very delightful in my opinion. Crisp and a little chilly………….ah, yes, that’s what I call perfect December weather! At least that’s the weather story at this Monday morning’s writing.

The Mason Lions club met Tuesday, December 4th, for its regular monthly business meeting. There were 37 members and one visitor in attendance.
"Boss" Lion Pat Reardon was responsible for the program and Secretary/Treasurer Gene Gammill read the minutes and gave the financial report.
The Hamburger Lunch was a great success, totaling $993.52 profit.

The larger retail stores make Christmas shopping and gift giving a mess. If you are to return anything, please have your receipt. Or when you buy a gift, get a store receipt and enclose it in the gift. If the item goes on sale and it is returned, you will only get the sales amount at the time of return!
Shoppers beware of; Beall’s – Wal Mart—Dollar General – All outlet stores—Best Buy—!

For the last week and a half, the big news in my world has been Bob Costas, and his rant against guns during halftime of an NFL game on 2 December. Costas, bless his heart, had no idea what he was talking about. But then, I guess when your job is to talk about what other people are doing, instead of actually doing something yourself, you can’t exactly claim heredity from the deep end of the gene pool.
My brother hung a sign in our bathroom when we were kids that said ‘Be s ...

I predict that this quick, easy, practical recipe will become a household favorite. For those of you who are “yeast averse,” and “kneading averse,” this will be right down your alley. And notice that it uses self-rising flour, so the texture will be a bit different from the usual yeast-based bread.

In O'Henry's wonderful short story, "Gift of the Magi," a poor young couple struggle through Christmas and the quandary of finding the perfect gift. She has long, lustrous hair. He has a treasured old pocket watch. She sells her hair to buy him a watch chain. He sells his watch to buy a fine comb for her hair.

We did not vote for Grover Norquist, or Nation before Party
If you’ve been paying any attention at all to the news, you know that, as expected, nothing has changed after the elections. Apparently, Congress remains at a standstill, and they are more than willing to cause much more damage to the economy, which includes you and me.

Don’t want to spend two days in the kitchen for something consumed in fifteen minutes? Tired of leftovers for three days after Christmas? Come and help us celebrate a new tradition with the family of Mason on Christmas day!
River of Life Church will be hosting the Fifth Annual Christmas Dinner.

The regular monthly meeting of the Long Mt. Community Club will be held Friday eve. Dec. 14th at 6:30 PM at the Community Center of Long. Mt. The bill of fare will be Mexican dishes for the supper event. Sorry there will be only us turkeys in attendence so come on and join in.

Due to the electrical construction phase of the Mason County Courthouse Roof and Electrical Project, the Courthouse and the Tax Assessor-Collector’s office must be closed on December 26 and 27, 2012. The electrical contractors have to disconnect the electricity to the Courthouse and the Law Enforcement Building during this time period.

December 14th is this Friday and it is the deadline for making your donation to the annual Mason County E.M.S. fundraiser: “Operation Christmas Greeting”. This paper’s Christmas edition is December 19th and it will contain a Texas size “Community Greeting Card” that has an alphabetical listing of all contributors. Only the total amount of all donations is ever listed.
The Mason County “Greeting” began eleven years ago and the goal each year is ...

A group of first and second grade Second Chance Scouts show off some of their entries in the recent poster contest. Second Chance Scouts is an after school program sponsored by Second Chance - Mason Animal Rescue to teach children about animals. Pictured standing from left to right are Jasmine Jefferson, Mia Weaver, Annabelle Herrington, Madison Martinez, and Malachi Garcia.

Adelaide Copeland ( right) of Junction and Fannie Armes (left) formerly of Fredonia celebrated an early Birthday at the Domino club on Monday. Both ladies share the same Birthdate - December 10 - but Miss Adelaide will be 99 and Miss Fannie 89. A luncheon of lasagna was served, before blowing out the candles and on to a serious game of dominos.

Arlis’ pick of the week is Ruby Ann, a 9 month old pit/boxer mix who is up to date on all of her shots. Miss Ruby Ann id currently in a foster home, but would love a stable full time home! For more information on her call Ashely Scantlin (347-7277) or Karen Scantlin (347-2387).

Craig and Devyn Bauman of Llano are proud to announce the birth of their son Curren William Bauman. He was born October 19th at Fredericksburg Memorial Hospital and weighed seven pounds, four ounces, and was 19.5 inches long. Grandparents are Don and Karan Watson of Mason, Charles and Ada Jo Bauman of Llano.

Wesley and Kaley Simon would like to announce the birth of their beautiful baby daughter, Addison Layne. She weighed seven pounds, one ounce and was 19 ½ inches long. Addison was welcomed by grandparents, DeWayne and Sheri Simon, Rex and Janet Taylor, Dudley Power and Lana Schmidt-Morris. She is also welcomed by great-grandparents, Gene and Jeanne Kidd, Doris and Claude Simon, and Betty Vaughan.

Second Chance – Mason Animal Rescue’s pet of the week this week is Charlie, an adult male short hair cat. Charlie is a big, beautiful cat with a sweet personality to match. He is looking for his permanent family or a foster family before his time at the pound runs out.

Cousins Whitt Bierschwale and Ella Canfield, hunting together at their grandparents’ ranch near Fredonia, killed this buck recently. Ella is the daughter of Melany and Thom Canfield and Whitt is the son of Megan and Tommy Bierschwale.

Jeff Tallent killed this buck, scoring 56.75 points in the Shortstop Big Buck contest. He used his mother Cathy's rifle, which is the same gun she used to kill the buck that won the contest two years ago.

Shopowners and shoppers around the Mason square were treated to Christmas carols from the music of Dawn hahn last week. The youngsters were full of spirit and song as they made their way around the downtown.

The Mason Co. M. Bevan Eckert Memorial Library sponsors Story Time and recruits volunteer readers for the Little Punchers and Head Start. John Gillespie was the reader for the Little Punchers and did a wonderful job.

The after school program, ACE— GO FAR (Go Out for a RUN), climaxed a 10-week training last Saturday by competing in the Wounded Warriors 5K Run in San Angelo. This running program incorporated lessons about physical activity, good nutrition, goal setting, and character building for children of all abilities. Twenty-four students and adults competed in the 5K.

The Mason High School FFA Department has teamed up with Habitat for Humanity on Habitat’s newest house, which will be located on Avenue D. The house will belong to Audrey Morquecho and her daughter Khrysta, and they will move in this spring.
High School Ag teacher Lance Rasch supervised the project along with Habitat Board member Keith Kahn and Habitat Care-a-Vanner Frances Harless.

In my last column a couple of weeks ago I spent some time explaining the early “silver dollars” minted before the American revolution. Those “pieces of eight” coins were made beginning 50+ years before 1776 and continued to be accepted for the value of a dollar for over 75 years after the revolution even though they were minted in Mexico City and were actually made as 8 Reales coins.